HOULTON, Maine — It may not be November yet, but Houlton Rotarians are already gearing up for the 65th Annual Rotary Auction.
There was definitely excitement in the room, both at Watson Hall and virtually, for the Monday, Sept. 28, meeting as Rotarians talked about being able to run the auction this year. This family-friendly event is one of the main fundraising events for the Houlton Rotary Club.
“Due to COVID-19, we either had to cancel or postpone some of our other annual events, such as Rotary Bingo,” Rotary President, Katie Hill said. “We are very happy to be able to run the auction this year.”
Although, there will need to be some adjustments in the way the auction event is typically run, the show will go on. That was evident during the weekly meeting, as Rotarians are in full preparation mode.
Rotarians Nate Bodenstab and Fred Grant provided a demonstration of a new process of taking the callers bids, inputting the information, and then reading the bids on air. This new process will eliminate some of the usual close proximity of Rotarians, and aid to streamline the bid-taking process.
Many Rotarians were able to actively participate in the trial run and provided valuable feedback. Future trial runs will be scheduled well in advance of the actual Rotary Auction dates of Nov. 23-25.
“There will need to be a few other adjustments to how we typically run the auction as a result of social distancing and safety protocols,” Meg York, auction chairman, said.
Some of these adjustments include a change in the storeroom hours and not allowing the public into Watson Hall during the three-night event. More details on these and other adjustments will be detailed in a future article.
